


New Adventures and Old

by Soulstoned



Series: New Adventures and Old [1]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Accidental Pregnancy, Captured Shiro, Hurt Shiro, M/M, Mpreg, Not Epilogue Compliant, Pregnant Keith (Voltron), Rescue Missions, Vacation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-30
Updated: 2019-06-30
Packaged: 2020-03-26 12:24:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 11,552
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19005745
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Soulstoned/pseuds/Soulstoned
Summary: Keith discovers he is pregnant while Shiro is away on a mission. What happens when Shiro gets captured on the day he was set to return?





	New Adventures and Old

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Lunarium](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lunarium/gifts).



Keith walks down the hall of the Blade of Marmora headquarters towards the hangar where he is supposed to meet a ship that is due to land any minute now. Krolia called him this morning to tell him he has a new assignment and will be leaving this afternoon to accompany a leader from another planet on a vacation as her bodyguard. She wouldn't give any details beyond that, but she looked entirely too smug about it, which was disconcerting. 

He sighs, he had really hoped his next mission would be short or close to home. Shiro is due back home in two weeks and he wanted to be there. Ever since their wedding last year it feels like the universe is conspiring to keep them as far apart as possible.

His eyes scan the hangar for new arrivals and land on a familiar ship. An Altean vessel strongly resembling a scaled down version of the old castle ship. Allura and Lance step out of the ship and walk towards him wearing matching smug grins reminiscent of the one Krolia had worn this morning. "We know how hard it is to get you to take a vacation, so we found a loophole," says Allura.

"Pidge and Hunk are going to meet us on Earth, it'll be like old times," says Lance, throwing his arm around Keith's shoulder to guide him toward the ship.

"You could have just asked, you know," says Keith, hoisting his bag up on to his shoulder as he follows them onto the ship. 

"We did ask," says Allura. "Months ago when we first planned this trip, you said you were saving your time off to line up with Shiro's."

Keith thinks he might vaguely remember saying something like that, but he can't be certain.

"So, you're welcome," says Lance with a smile as they approach the bridge and get ready for take off.

"I don't guess you were able to get Shiro out of work too?" asks Keith.

"We tried, but the garrison is much harder to convince than your mom. Shiro is going to have to miss the first two weeks," says Allura sadly.

"I'm so glad I left the garrison as soon as the war ended," says Lance. "It seems like Shiro can't get a break."

"He loves it though," says Keith with a sigh. "I just wish our missions lined up more often."

"I get that," says Lance. "I remember when Allura first came back, we barely lasted a month living on different planets before I packed up everything to move to Altea. I wouldn't want to go back to that."

Keith feels the ship begin to move as Allura steps onto the platform to guide it out of the hangar and prepare for the first wormhole jump. Even with wormhole technology the journey to Earth takes nearly three days from Diabazaal. You can only go so far on one jump, and Allura needs time between jumps to rest and recharge.

Lance leads Keith to the room they have ready for him so he can put his bags down. Kosmo is waiting sprawled out on the bed. "Did you decide to come with me, buddy?" asks Keith, reaching down to scratch behind the wolf's ears.

Kosmo is the size of a horse and he does what he wants, so Keith didn't expect him to tag along, but he has been clingy lately. Keith suspects he might just miss Shiro. Normally when Keith goes off planet for a mission, Kosmo stays behind with Shiro or Krolia. He doesn't exactly fit on most standard fighters, at least not in a way that is comfortable for anyone.

Keith puts his bags down and makes his way back to the bridge of the ship. He feels a presence he has been noticing for the past few weeks any time he is alone, like he is being followed. He peeks through all of the open doorways he passes on his way to the bridge and sees that the rooms are empty, but it feels so close.

It isn't noticeable when he's surrounded by other people, but when he's alone or in a space with only a couple other people it’s hard to ignore. 

He feels the slight jolt of the ship going through the first of what is sure to be several wormholes as he gets to the bridge where Lance has rejoined Allura near the console.

"Is there anyone other than us on the ship?" he asks.

"No, everyone else is meeting us on Earth. Why do you ask?" Allura asks, giving him a curious look.

"No reason," says Keith, looking over his shoulder. He knows better than to mention feeling a weird presence to most people, his fellow blades looked at him like he had a screw loose when he mentioned it before, but he just can't shake the feeling that he's being followed.

"Riiiiight…" says Lance, turning back to the view screen on the ship. 

Keith sits down and pulls his communicator out of his pocket to send a message to Shiro letting him know that he is on his way to Earth with Allura and Lance. Shiro sends back a message telling him to have fun and a reminder that the Atlas will be landing on Earth as well in two weeks. (Actually thirteen and a half days, not that Keith is counting down or anything.)

The trip through space is uneventful, after the first day Keith has checked every corner of the ship and is reasonably certain they are actually alone, so he is finally able to relax and enjoy the rest of the journey. 

When they land on Earth, Pidge and Hunk are already there to greet them and drive them to the beach house where they will be staying for the next month. The house is just down the street from Lance's family.

Keith enjoys the afternoon with Hunk and Pidge, getting settled into the beach house while Lance and Allura take the car to visit Lance's family. Keith knows that Lance and Allura try to take at least one long vacation to Earth every year, ever since Lance packed up and left his family to move in with Allura on Altea almost seven years ago. 

It’s nice seeing everyone again. Not that Keith never sees them, any time he is on the same planet as one of his friends he tries to make time for at least a quick visit, often arriving to Earth a day before the Atlas is set to land in order to have an evening to spend with Hunk or Pidge if one of them is home, before making the trip back to Diabazaal with Shiro. He also made sure to get assigned as part of the most recent delegation to Altea in order to squeeze in some time with Allura and Lance, but it isn't the same as it was during the war when they all lived together as paladins of Voltron. 

It's been years since the last time everyone was together at the same time for more than a day or two, and Keith isn't even sure what he's going to do with an entire month of vacation. He didn't even get a full month off when he married Shiro just over a year ago. Even when he manages a month between missions with the blade he still ends up getting pulled into meetings with visiting officials. No matter how many times he insists that he isn't part of the leadership on Diabazaal, many visiting ambassadors feel more comfortable meeting with the Galra if a former paladin of Voltron is among them.

That evening after Lance and Allura return to the beach house, Hunk sets up the grill while Allura, Lance, and Pidge go out into the water. Keith stays on land near Hunk. He has never been particularly comfortable with large bodies of water, having grown up in the desert. He learned the very basics of swimming, enough to not drown in still water, but the ocean is a different beast entirely, one that he does not feel like taking on at this time.

He busies himself with helping Hunk prepare dinner, running into the house to retrieve ingredients and chopping the vegetables to put on the skewers as Hunk adjusts the fire and seasons the meat. 

Hunk puts the lid down on the grill and grabs two beers from the cooler, opening one and offering the other to Keith. 

"Oh, no thanks," says Keith, "I'm technically on the clock right now."

Hunk laughs, "You know your mom was in on this too, it isn't a job, it's a vacation loophole to get you to come join us since you skipped out last time. Consider it one of the perks of befriending a princess," he says.

"I believe her title is queen now, actually," says Keith with a laugh. "I'm still going to pass, I've got this weird feeling, and I want to stay alert in case anything comes of it," he says.

Hunk gives him a suspicious look, "usually weird Keith feelings mean we're either being followed or something's about to blow up," he says warily.

"It's probably nothing, I'm just being cautious," says Keith in an attempt to be reassuring.

Hunk shrugs and puts the beer back in the cooler. "Suit yourself," he says, lifting the lid of the grill to flip the vegetable skewers.

When the food is almost ready, Keith walks down to the beach to get the others. Allura, Lance, and Pidge rinse the worst of the sand and saltwater off using a hose that is dangling over the side of the deck before crowding around the picnic table just as Hunk starts pulling the food off the grill.

Keith sits at one end of the table with his plate of food and a can of an off-brand spicy pepper soda that everyone else thinks is disgusting, but Keith couldn't get enough of when he was initially dared to taste it on a visit to Earth several years ago. He's touched that Hunk remembered when he was doing the grocery shopping for this vacation. 

It's been ten years since he and the others were taken into space by the blue lion, twelve for Keith due to his time in the quantum abyss, and sometimes when Keith thinks about the friends he has as a result of that experience, it still feels too good to be true. If anyone had told him the day before his life was changed forever by that lion that in twelve years years he would be married to Shiro and surrounded by four good friends on a beach vacation, he wouldn't have believed it. 

Keith's thoughts are interrupted by Allura "Is everything okay?" she asks, looking at him strangely from her seat to his left.

"Everything's fine, just lost in thought," he says, taking another sip of his soda. 

"I still don't understand how you drink that stuff," says Pidge with a full body cringe. She has the beginnings of a terrible sunburn and is definitely going to regret not wearing sunblock later.

The rest of the evening is uneventful. Keith gets roped into starting a fire in the fire pit so Lance and Hunk can introduce Allura to s'mores. Pidge climbs into the hammock and pulls out her data pad to work on something Keith is sure he wouldn't understand if he asked about, so he doesn't. 

Keith is still tired from the trip so he decides to call it an early night after his nightly video call with Shiro is over, and goes inside to climb into bed. Kosmo pops in to join him, taking up a large portion of the bed by laying sideways with his head on Keith's stomach. 

Keith laughs and scratches behind Kosmo's ears "Don't get used to this, as soon as Shiro gets here, you're on the couch, we won't all three fit," he says.

Kosmo whines and nuzzles his face into Keith's stomach. "Do you miss Shiro too?" Keith asks.

Kosmo sits up and tilts his head questioningly before popping out of the room, returning a minute later with an extra blanket. Keith tucks the extra blanket over Kosmo. "You're spoiled," he says as he turns off the light to lay back down on the bed. 

Kosmo huffs and snuggles in closer and they both drift off to sleep.

\---------------------------

The next morning Keith wakes up feeling a little queasy, so he grabs some dry toast from the kitchen and goes back to bed. This has been happening on and off lately, and he has just been pushing through it, but today he is on vacation and has no real plans, so going back to bed is an attractive option.

When he wakes up the second time the sun is high in the sky and Lance and Hunk have left to go back to the ship. Hunk wanted to take a look at the engines so Lance went with him to show him around. Pidge is nowhere to be seen, probably still holed up in her room working on something. 

Allura is sitting on the couch flipping through the channels on the television. 

"Good luck finding something decent to watch this time of day," says Keith, flopping down next to her on the couch. 

Allura turns off the television with a sigh and turns to him with the same odd look she has been giving him a lot the past few days. 

"What is it, do I have something on my face?" asks Keith, rubbing his hand over his face to check.

"No, nothing like that, it's just…" she pauses clearly unsure how to continue before barreling forward "is it okay if I ask you a personal question?" she asks.

"Sure, go ahead," says Keith.

"Well, I've been feeling this… additional presence… every time I get near you. I have to be pretty close so I'm almost positive it is coming from you, so I was just wondering if you had any news you would like to share," she asks delicately, fully prepared for Keith to storm off.

Keith doesn't storm off, he just raises an eyebrow "What do you think it is? Am I being haunted?" he asks.

Allura is taken aback "Can't you feel it too? I thought you were quintessence sensitive," she says in frustration. 

"I feel something, I've felt it for a few weeks now and it's just getting stronger, but I can't for the life of me find whoever is following me. I shouldn't have come, I'm just putting the rest of you in danger by being here," says Keith, sinking back against the couch.

Allura boggles at him for a moment. "Keith, I don't think anyone is following you, but if someone is I would rather you be here where we can all take them down together than have you off on your own due to some misguided sense of honor," she says.

"So we're back to haunting," says Keith. "It was bound to happen sooner or later."

"There is another thing it could be, the additional presence is very small, I can't feel it at all unless I'm sitting right next to you," she pauses to give Keith a moment to figure out where she is going with this, but he just stares at her blankly, so she continues "is there a chance you could be pregnant?"

Keith's mind screeches to a halt. If twelve years in space wasn't enough to normalize the idea of being able to get pregnant as a man, the immediate post-war baby boom on Diabazaal should've done the trick. Still, until this moment it always felt hypothetical. It was a thing that might happen to him in the distant future, not a thing that could be happening right now.

It isn't like he hasn't thought about it, he has discussed it at length with Shiro at a few different points in their relationship. First to explain in case Shiro didn't know why he always insisted on a condom when bottoming (both galra and human hormonal birth control have nasty side effects and reduced effectiveness in hybrids), then just before they got married there was another discussion where they decided that they were still a few years away from intentionally trying to conceive, but they were both at a place in their lives where if an accident happened they would be able to rearrange a few things to keep it. 

Ever since that discussion they've been less careful. Keith spends more of his time with Shiro on Diabazaal than on Earth, and condoms with the correct fit for a human are tough to come by. They always stock up on visits to Earth, but lately when they run out they have just been going without instead of sticking to different sex acts or putting things on hold until they can make the trip back to buy more. 

The most recent time Keith can remember this happening was on their first anniversary a couple days before Shiro had to leave for two months with the Atlas. It wasn't long after Shiro left that Keith started noticing the presence.

Keith looks up and sees that Allura is still looking at him expectantly. "Maybe, I don't know," he says, trying to keep his voice steady.

'Then let's find out, this is exciting!" says Allura with a smile.

Pidge walks out of her room towards the door looking miserable from her sunburn. "I'm headed out, I need to buy some aloe and sunblock, do either of you need anything?" she says, wincing as she slides her sandals onto her burnt feet. 

"Since you’re headed out anyway, could you pick up a pregnancy test?" Allura asks cheerfully. 

Pidge chokes and nearly drops her keys. "Yeah sure, um...any specific kind?" she asks.

"Whichever one looks simple to use should be fine," says Allura, glancing sideways at Keith, who is now determined to look anywhere but at Pidge.

The next thirty minutes pass quickly as Keith thinks through the past few weeks for signs that he might be pregnant. When he asked how he would be able to tell, he was told he would just know. Is feeling this presence what his mom meant by that? He's been getting tired easily and feeling a little queasy some mornings, but not every morning, and he hasn't thrown up at all. 

Pidge gets back to the beach house and tosses a bag at Allura. "You owe me one. Did you know Lance's sister Rachel is a cashier at the pharmacy down the street? I couldn't very well tell her this was for you, so now she probably thinks I'm the one who's pregnant," says Pidge. It's hard to tell if she's blushing or if her face is only red from the sunburn.

"It isn't for me either," says Allura, handing the test over to Keith. 

Pidge gives Keith a look of surprise as he looks over the box, the label says it is 99% accurate in over 20 species. Flipping it over to the back he sees that Galra are listed along with humans and 18 other alien races.

He sighs and walks down the hall to the bathroom and pulls out the instructions. They are pretty simple, uncap the test and pee on the stick then wait five minutes. One pink line is negative, two is positive. 

He takes a deep breath and pees on the stick then wraps it up in a paper towel and washes his hands before pulling his phone out of his pocket and setting a timer.

When he walks back into the living room Allura is rubbing aloe on Pidge's back. They both look up at him curiously.

"I don't know yet, it takes a few minutes," he says, nervously fiddling with the stick as he sits back down on the couch. 

Keith sucks in a breath as the timer on his phone goes off. Allura turns to give him a comforting pat on the shoulder, leaving sticky aloe residue on his shirt sleeve as he unwraps the test and turns it over.

There are two very obvious dark pink lines in the test window. Pidge looks over his shoulder as he stares at the test wide-eyed. "Two lines is positive, right? Or is this the kind that should have a plus?" she asks curiously.

Allura snatches the test out of his hands to get a better look. "Gross, you know he peed on that, right?" says Pidge.

Allura waves her off, "it's fine, I can wash my hands, this is exciting! The first team Voltron baby!" she says, pulling a stunned Keith into a tight hug.

Keith sinks back against the couch and puts his hand over his stomach which is still as flat as ever. He wishes Shiro was here, this feels like the kind of thing he should tell him in person, not over one of their nightly phone calls.

He wasn't even entirely sure if this would be possible until today, things can go either way with hybrids and he is the only human/galra hybrid he knows. 

Pidge snaps him out of his daze "are you okay?" she asks.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I'm just surprised and trying to process is all," he replies. 

"We can go back to the ship and scan you in one of the health pods later, having more information might help," says Allura looking thoughtful. 

"I can run back to the pharmacy for some prenatal vitamins if you'd like," says Pidge.

"Right, vitamins…" says Keith thoughtfully. He wonders if there is anything else he should be doing right now. He thinks he might remember something about avoiding sushi, has he had any sushi lately? Probably not, that’s an Earth food and he's only been on Earth for a day. 

Pidge turns to Allura "I think he's broken, maybe we should give him a little time?" 

Allura gives Keith one final pat on the shoulder and follows Pidge outside. "Call if you need anything," she says before closing the door behind her.

Keith goes into his room to grab his data pad to do some research. He finds a website that will take him through week by week with what to expect and facts about the baby at different stages. Without knowing exactly how far along he is he isn't sure which week to focus on so he reads through the first few and bookmarks it for later, then he looks up a list of dietary and activity restrictions. He is relieved to see that nothing on the list is going to be too terribly hard to avoid.

Pidge and Allura have been gone for about an hour when they return with Lance and Hunk following close behind with lunch. Pidge stealthily hands Keith a bag from the pharmacy containing prenatal vitamins and a folic acid supplement, he thanks her and walks off to the bathroom to swallow them down with a glass of water while the others carry in the pizza. He leaves the bottles on the edge of the bathroom sink next to his toothbrush. He's only sharing this bathroom with Pidge and she already knows, so he doesn't bother hiding them.

After lunch Allura makes the excuse that she left something on the ship and takes Keith to the healing pods for a check up. He stands in the pod for a few minutes while the sensors whirr around him, then steps out to look at the results. 

The results on the screen are in Altean, so he turns to Allura for a translation. She fiddles with some settings and the results are displayed again in English using Earth measurements. 

PREGNANCY DETECTED  
GESTATIONAL AGE: APPROXIMATELY 9 WEEKS  
HEART RATE: 168 BPM  
STATUS: HEALTHY  
DUE: FEBRUARY 22

Upon seeing the status marked as healthy Keith feels relief wash over him. Until that moment he didn’t even realize he was worried. He has to fight hard to resist the urge to call Shiro right then and there, maybe send him a snapshot of the screen. He takes a picture anyway so he can look at it again later.

He thanks Allura and she grabs a book from her room on the ship in case anyone asks what it was she forgot. Nine weeks makes sense, he knew it had to be at least seven weeks, but probably not more than twelve or he would be showing a little bit if the reading he did before lunch was accurate. 

Later that evening after the sun has gone down Keith sits out by the fire with the others. Pidge is sitting to his left sipping a beer and reading a book while Allura tries to talk Hunk into finding some more marshmallows, the s’mores the night before had been a hit. Lance steps out of the house looking confused and worried and walks over to where Pidge is sitting.

“Hey, are you sure you should be drinking that?” he asks, gesturing to her beer.

Pidge raises an eyebrow “I’m twenty-five years old and it’s like nine o’clock,” she says.

Lance sighs, “I was just in your bathroom because it’s closer to the door than mine and I really had to go and I saw something in there. I promise I’m not judging, I can run inside and get you some water or juice or something.”

Realization dawns on Pidge and she starts laughing, “I’m not pregnant, Lance. Whose would it even be?” she asks between peals of laughter.

“Then why was there a pregnancy test box in your trash can and prenatal vitamins on your counter?” asks Lance. 

“They aren’t mine,” says Pidge, still fighting back laughter.

Lance swivels around to look at Allura with wide eyes and Keith takes pity on them both. He hadn’t planned on telling anyone else until after he had a chance to tell Shiro, but if he doesn’t come clean right now there is going to be a much bigger mess to deal with later. “It’s me. The stuff you saw is mine,” says Keith.

“Oh!” says Lance, turning back towards Keith, “I forgot you could do that. Congrats, man.”

“Thanks, I haven’t told Shiro yet because I want to wait and tell him in person, so let’s keep it between us for now,” says Keith. 

Hunk pulls Keith into a tight bear hug that lifts him off the ground, “So when are you due?” he asks before loosening his grip and gently putting him back down. 

“February twenty-second, I just found out today,” says Keith.

“Is this good news?” asks Lance 

“Yeah, I think so. I mean, we weren’t trying but we have talked about this. The timing isn’t perfect, but it isn’t terrible, and we were hoping to have kids eventually,” says Keith

“You should do something to document this, so Shiro doesn’t have to miss anything even when he's off in space,” says Hunk, reaching for his phone.

“Like what? There isn’t really anything to see yet,” asks Keith

“Then consider this the before picture, turn sideways,” says Hunk, snapping a picture after Keith does as he is told.

“This seems silly,” says Keith, absentmindedly rubbing his hand over his flat stomach.

“It is, but Shiro’s a sap when it comes to you, so I can just imagine what he’s going to be like with a baby. He’ll love this,” says Pidge. 

They sit around the fire chatting about increasingly ridiculous ways to break the news to Shiro while Keith excuses himself to go back inside. It's almost time for his nightly call with Shiro and he doesn’t want the others around when he answers it this time in case they spoil the surprise. Hunk and Lance in particular are terrible at keeping secrets.

While he waits for Shiro to call, Keith flips back to the website he found earlier with the week by week rundown on what to expect and skips ahead to week nine. Going down the list of typical symptoms he can’t help but consider himself lucky in that regard. His morning sickness has been minimal and he hasn’t experienced most of the other symptoms at all. If not for the confirmation earlier in the healing pod that the baby is healthy this might be worrisome, but since he knows everything is okay, he's glad for it. 

The only thing he sees on the list that has actually been a problem for him is fatigue, but vacation means he can sleep whenever he wants, so he will gladly take fatigue over morning sickness.

At nine weeks the baby is now officially a fetus and around the size of a cherry. Keith closes his eyes and focuses on feeling the presence of the fetus. Now that he knows what it is, the feeling is comforting instead of alarming. It's only been a day and he can already feel himself getting attached. 

He is broken out of his thoughts by the sound of his phone ringing. He sends the call over to his data pad and Shiro’s face appears on the screen. He is wearing pajamas and sitting on his bed on board the Atlas. He looks tired.

“Rough day?” asks Keith.

“We got an update today on the ships that are being built to replace the Atlas as Earth’s primary exploration vessel. It looks like they're going to be finished ahead of schedule, I thought I had at least another year, now it's looking like this might be my last trip out here as captain,” says Shiro with a sigh.

They knew this was coming. The resources needed to maintain a crew on a ship the size of the Atlas are hard to justify in times of relative peace, so two smaller, faster ships have been in the works for years now. They will each be able to do the same work as the Atlas in less time and with a smaller crew.

“What are you going to do?” asks Keith. They've talked about it a few times once it became clear that the Atlas wasn’t going to be forever, but never really came to an agreement on what comes next, opting to leave it to another day. The eventual replacement of the Atlas is a sore spot for Shiro and Keith doesn’t like to poke at it.

“They gave me three options today, and there may be more coming later. I have a lot to think about,” says Shiro, gesturing to a folder full of paperwork that is laying on his bedside table.

“What are the options? You don’t have to decide today, but it’s probably something we should talk about when you get back now that it looks like this is going to be happening soon,” says Keith. 

“The first option that came up was letting me captain one of the newer ships. The problem with that is they’re much smaller than the Atlas. There would be nowhere for you to dock your ship to come see me during deployments, you would have to coordinate to visit me planet-side, and those stops are almost never overnight,” says Shiro, holding up a picture of the layout of one of the newer ships.

“Okay, that would be rough, but we could get through that, what are the other options?” asks Keith. 

“The second option is the one I’m leaning toward right now. It is an ambassador position. I would spend most of my time on Diabazaal on behalf of Earth, It sounds really boring but it’s the option that gives me the most time to spend with you, and nothing is ever truly boring on Diabazaal. They say I’m ‘uniquely qualified’. I’d say being married to you is a pretty unique qualification,” says Shiro with a laugh.

“I know it isn’t the job you wanted, but spending most of our time on the same planet again would be nice. What’s the third option?” asks Keith. The second option is sounding really good, but he wants to support Shiro no matter what decision he makes. Still, spending even more time apart would be hard even without a baby. 

Shiro grimaces “The third option is insulting - early retirement. How old do they think I am? Is it the hair?” he asks, running his fingers through his thick silver hair for emphasis. 

The truth is, Shiro looks exactly the same at thirty-five as he did at twenty-six, the fact that his new body doesn’t seem to be aging at all is something he tries not to think too hard about. Keith also hit his mid twenties and seemingly stopped aging but that was expected with his galra heritage. A full blooded galra can live for up to a thousand years even without abusing quintessence, so even a half-human like Keith should live at least a few hundred years if nothing goes terribly wrong.

"I like the hair, I think it makes you look distinguished, like a silver fox," says Keith thoughtfully. 

Shiro dyed his hair black a few years ago in some sort of thirtieth birthday induced meltdown. As soon as the roots started growing back in he looked completely ridiculous and swore to never do it again.

Shiro brushes his hair back down and sighs, "regardless, I'm not retiring without a good reason."

"I wouldn't expect any different," says Keith with a grin. "I have a surprise for you when you get back."

Shiro perks up "What kind of surprise?"

Keith rolls his eyes, "if I told you it wouldn't be much of a surprise, would it?"

"Do I at least get a clue, how big is it?" asks Shiro.

Keith laughs, "very small."

"Is it something I already wanted?" asks Shiro.

Keith hesitates, "I think so, at least I really hope so," he says. 

Shiro senses Keith's uncertainty, "if it's from you, I'm sure I'll love it. Ten more days until I come home."

"Nine and a half," corrects Keith.

"Even better" says Shiro.

They continue talking for a while, mostly about the beach and Keith's flight to Earth in the new castle ship. Keith carefully avoids talking about his pregnancy by telling Shiro a very incomplete version of the day's events.

At some point their clothes come off and they jerk off together over the video feed with the promise of something much better once they see each other in person again. 

The next week passes quickly. The paladins are doting to the point that it honestly feels a little smothering at times. At the ten week mark, Keith gets roped into taking another progress picture. He still doesn't think he looks any different, but when he puts his hand on his lower stomach it does feel a bit firmer. According to the website, his baby is now the size of a strawberry. 

In only three days Shiro will land on Earth. Hunk has agreed to help make Shiro's favorite food for dinner, then all four of the other paladins are going to leave for the evening to give Keith and Shiro some privacy while Keith breaks the news. 

It's getting harder to keep this a secret when Shiro calls. He wants to talk through his decision making process for what to do after the Atlas is decommissioned, and having a baby is a very important factor in that decision, but Keith doesn't want to drop that kind of news on him over the phone if he is going to see him in person in a few days. 

Usually getting naked is enough to change the subject, but he can tell Shiro is getting suspicious when every time he brings up the future Keith starts stripping down.

On the day Shiro is finally set to land, Keith can't tell if it's morning sickness or nerves that has him throwing up the whole way there.

Hunk is kneeling next to him holding his hair back and patting him on the back. Lance and Allura are piloting the ship on the very short trip from Cuba to Arizona. Keith lost track of where exactly Pidge went.

"What if he isn't ready?" asks Keith, still sitting on the bathroom floor, afraid to move too far away from the toilet in case the need to vomit strikes again.

"Then he has about seven months to get ready," says Hunk.

Pidge pops her head into the bathroom, "I thought you might want to know we're about to land," she says before turning around and making her way back towards the bridge.

Hunk pulls Keith to his feet, "It's going to be fine, you've talked about this, it's just happening a little bit ahead of schedule. Let's go wait for the Atlas."

Keith feels his stomach lurch again as the ship touches down outside the garrison, but he manages to keep everything down as he steps out of the ship to go to the spot where crew members and their families meet up upon arrival. 

The Atlas is set to land in just over an hour as Keith takes a seat in the waiting area with the other paladins. Families of other crew members are starting to file in. The paladins will be retrieving Shiro and Veronica before heading back to Cuba for the rest of their vacation.

Two hours pass and Keith is starting to feel uneasy. It isn't unusual for the Atlas to be running behind a little bit, once he even had to wait overnight, but usually Shiro calls to let him know if that's going to be the case.

Another hour passes and it's clear the rest of the room is starting to get the same uneasy feeling. Keith overhears two nervous looking garrison officials whispering to each other and the phrase "out of contact" stands out as he tries to swallow down his rising panic. 

He tries to call Shiro several times but it just goes straight to voicemail. Keith stands up to pace around as the paladins begin to quietly discuss getting back on the ship to go to the Atlas's last known location when suddenly phones start ringing all over the room. 

Keith looks down at his own silent phone willing it to ring as Lance pulls his ringing phone out of his pocket. He looks over Lance's shoulder hoping for answers as Veronica appears on the screen and what he sees makes his blood run cold. 

The bridge of the ship is a wreck and Veronica is sitting at her desk holding an ice pack to her bruised face with one hand, and her broken glasses in the other. 

"What happened? Where's Shiro?" He asks, trying but failing to keep the panic out of his voice. 

"We got overrun right as we were entering the solar system, they somehow completely knocked the power out on the ship and just swarmed. They were Galra but nobody looked familiar. They took Shiro and left. We just got our communication system back up, but the ship still won't move,"

Keith is already running to the ship when he hears Lance tell Veronica they are on their way. Within minutes they are in the air heading to the Atlas's location just past Pluto. 

Keith changes into his Blade of Marmora armor and grabs his blade and his bayard in preparation for a fight as the Atlas comes into view. The power is still down in most of the ship and everywhere he looks there are signs of a struggle. 

Hunk and Pidge make their way to the engine room to try to get the ship moving again. As it is, they are sitting ducks if the Galra who swarmed the ship decide to come back, and several members of the crew are in need of medical attention. Allura ushers the worst of the injured into the healing pods on board the castle ship as Lance and Keith take off toward the bridge to see if they can get any clues as to where the Galra took Shiro. 

There is about thirty seconds of security video feed just before the power cut out showing a large ship that seems to be cobbled together out of scrap hailing the Atlas right before everything goes dark. 

Some of the crew are able to point off in the general direction the ship went, and that's enough for Keith. He knows the others won't be able to leave for hours, between tending to the injured and getting the Atlas moving again. Judging from the outside, the ship that took Shiro is probably not updated enough to have wormhole technology, so he takes off to the ship's hangar and jumps into Shiro's personal transport ship. Kosmo pops in after him, stretching out behind the pilot's seat.

The ship is small and fast, one of the fastest ships around. It will hold a charge that is good for ten wormhole jumps even without an Altean on board, and it has a small sleeping area for long trips. Keith has spent a lot of time in this ship with Shiro. 

He sits down in the pilot's seat and takes off out of the hangar in the general direction of where that scrap heap that took Shiro was going. He doesn't make it far before Lance is hailing him. 

"Keith, have you seen what they did to the Atlas? We should stick together for this," he says 

"I can't wait around, not when Shiro is out there hurt. You saw that ship, it couldn't have gotten far. I just need to track it down," says Keith, not pausing for one second in his pursuit of the scrap heap that kidnapped his husband.

Lance sighs, "If you do manage to track it down, at least let us know where you are before you go rushing in," he says, knowing from past experience that trying to talk Keith down completely when he gets like this is a losing battle.

"I will," Keith promises before shutting off the video feed so he can concentrate more on his surroundings to try to spot the ship.

Keith falls asleep in the pilot seat that night. The last thing he remembers is receiving yet another transmission from the Atlas. The ship is now moving but at a slow crawl, most of the crew have been evacuated, with Allura and Lance taking them back to Earth in the castle ship while Pidge and Hunk along with a few uninjured Atlas crew members keep the ship moving and monitor the long range scanners.

The long range scanners on the Atlas are better than anything on board either the ship Keith is piloting or the castle ship. If Shiro is able to send any kind of signal the Atlas will probably pick it up first.

The next couple days are a blur, with Keith searching the galaxy with only brief stops for sleep and supplies. His phone chimes to remind him that he is now eleven weeks pregnant. He sets a timer on his phone's camera and takes a picture to add to the timeline with the others. He is determined to not make Shiro miss any more of this than absolutely necessary. 

Looking at this picture next to the others, he can see that he is starting to get a small bump. Nothing anyone would ever notice without the other pictures to compare it to, but Keith knows it's there. He takes a moment to rub his hand over the slight curve and just feel his baby's presence. Some small reassurance that at least this is still okay.

The ship's communicator buzzes and Krolia appears on the screen. "Any news?" asks Keith.

"I have blades scouring every location I can think of where they may have taken him, but we've had no luck yet. I'll keep you updated as soon as I know anything," says Krolia.

"Pidge and Hunk are monitoring communications throughout the universe looking for clues, and Lance and Allura are out checking with allies to see if anyone has any information on Shiro's whereabouts or the ship that took him, but they haven't had any luck either," says Keith.

"How are you holding up? I know this isn't easy for you," says Krolia sympathetically.

"I'm going to find him, I have to," says Keith, fighting back tears.

Kosmo walks up to the pilot's seat and puts his head in Keith's lap and Keith reaches down to stroke his fur.

"I know you'll find him, but don't forget to take care of yourself in the meantime," says Krolia, giving him a meaningful look.

"You know?" Keith asks, putting his hand over his stomach.

"I suspected. You just confirmed it," says Krolia. 

"How could you tell?" asks Keith.

"I thought I felt it on you the day you left Diabazaal, and Kosmo hasn't left your side," says Krolia.

"It's just another reason to keep searching, I need to find Shiro as soon as possible so he can start getting ready for his kid, he doesn't even know yet because I wanted to tell him in person," says Keith with tears streaming down his face.

"I would never ask you to stop looking. We'll find him, Keith," says Krolia.

"Thanks, mom," says Keith, wiping his eyes "I need to keep looking, I'll talk to you later."

"Let me know if you find any clues, and make sure you wait for backup before rushing in, take care," says Krolia before disconnecting the call.

Another week passes before Keith finds anything. He spots the scrap heap masquerading as a ship by chance when he stops to resupply on a remote moon.

He sends a quick transmission to Allura and Lance with his location and grasps onto Kosmo to teleport onto the ship without waiting for a response.

The inside of the ship is just as shoddy as the outside, the walls are covered in dents and rust spots and many of the doors are off their hinges.

He quietly tiptoes through the halls looking for any sign of Shiro or his captors but every room he passes seems empty. There are signs that the ship may have been evacuated in a hurry, with most of the doors that still have hinges hanging open and supplies laying around instead of being packed up neatly. In one room there's an open food packet laying out on a table next to an overturned chair, in another room there's a television that is still turned to a local news station.

He can hear a steady banging coming from a room at the end of the hall so he approaches it carefully, trying not to let his footsteps give him away as he slowly walks toward the door with his blade at the ready. 

He takes a deep breath and swings the door open, ready to spring into action at the first sign of trouble, but there is no one inside. The steady banging is coming from a padlocked desk drawer that has been dented outward from the inside.

Keith takes a deep breath and uses the hilt of his blade to break the padlock and slowly ease the drawer open. Inside is Shiro's arm, looking a little scuffed up but clearly still in working condition.

He carefully reaches in and places his hand on the back of Shiro's floating metal hand. The hand hesitates for a moment and Keith takes the opportunity to trace a heart on the back of the hand, hoping to let Shiro know that it's him who has the arm and not one of his captors.

The hand stalls for a moment before turning over and lacing their fingers together. If Shiro has control over his hand, he must be in the right solar system. One time as an experiment Shiro tested how far the controls on his hand would reach by staying on Earth while Keith took off with his arm. Shiro retained full control of his arm until somewhere around Neptune when it powered down due to the distance.

Keith holds Shiro's hand as he explores the rest of the ship, eventually making his way to the control room where he is able to find that the security footage has not been erased. Whoever did this was sloppy. 

Rewinding quickly through the security footage he is able to figure out that the ship was abandoned three days ago. There's no sound, but he can see that everyone seems to be leaving in a hurry. It takes several people to drag Shiro from his cell while he is thrashing around and trying to slip free from the ropes that are keeping him bound. 

Shiro lands a strong kick to the gut of one of his captors and Keith watches as the Galra doubles over in pain and lets go of him, allowing Shiro to pull free of the others and make it halfway down the hall before being tackled and held down while additional ropes are added. The Galra who was kicked grabs Shiro's leg and twists it hard, leaving it at an odd angle. Keith feels sick.

He squeezes Shiro's hand and sends a message to all of the allies who are currently helping to track him down with the location and time when the ship was abandoned, as well as some frames from the security cameras showing the faces of some of Shiro's captors. Maybe identifying those responsible could help lead him to Shiro.

As he is finishing his search of the ship, he receives a transmission from Krolia stating that some of the Galra from the security videos are wanted criminals thought to be working for Commander Trugg. 

Trugg spent a lot of time in the shadows, thought to be dead after Krolia set Warlord Ranveig's super weapon on her and Commander Ladnock on the day Keith first met her in order to cover their escape. She resurfaced years later as one of the former Galra commanders unwilling to submit to the results of the election on Diabazaal that put Kolivan in charge, staging a failed coup before disappearing again.

Over the next few days, Keith explores every corner of the moon for signs of Shiro or his captors with no luck. Allura and Lance as well as multiple blade operatives are also in the area checking every planet, moon, and space station in the solar system. Hunk and Pidge are scanning for transmissions from a distance while enroute to the area. 

Keith is now in the thirteenth week of his pregnancy and glad to be getting some of his energy back, but far less glad that his blade suit is starting to pull tight across his stomach. He doesn’t have time to stop and get bigger clothes, so he just has to hope he can find Shiro before it becomes a problem. 

He is flying from one moon to the next when he receives an incoming transmission from the Atlas. Hunk and Pidge pop up on the screen “We picked up a message from the people who have Shiro, you aren’t going to like it, but we were able to use it to narrow down his location,” says Hunk.

“Can I see it?” asks Keith.

“Okay, but don’t go rushing in, wait for backup. Judging from the view in the message, we believe he is on a ship, or possibly a space station. There is a red planet with rings visible through the window, I’ll show you the video so you can see if anything looks familiar,” says Pidge before the communication link cuts out and is replaced by a video.

The video shows Shiro looking far worse for wear. He is still tightly bound and covered in bruises and a sheen of sweat. His leg has not been set from the bad break he experienced over a week ago. Trugg pulls him up by his hair to show his face to the camera and shouts “You brought me the wrong black paladin!”

There is a pause as if she is waiting for a response from the other end of the call as Shiro tries to focus on what is happening, something is said that makes Shiro’s eyes widen in fear briefly before he loses focus again. Trugg responds “Then I suppose this one will have to do for now, but I hope for your sake that you’re right,” 

Keith feels rage building up inside him, he recognises the red planet in the background as one he passed several days ago, it's a gas giant incapable of supporting life, so he didn’t investigate it any closer at the time and now he is kicking himself.

He types out a quick message to Lance and Allura in the castleship and to Krolia and her team of blades and then speeds off in the direction of the red planet.

He has to loop around the planet twice before he notices the small space station, painted red on the outside to blend in with the surface of the planet below. He stops his ship outside and grasps onto Kosmo to teleport inside, bringing Shiro’s arm with him and holding his Marmoran blade at the ready.

He walks quietly down the hall, careful to avoid detection as he peeks through doorways looking for the cell where Shiro is being kept. Kosmo follows close behind. The station seems to be sparsely populated, there isn't much sound coming from any of the rooms Keith passes in his search for Shiro. 

At the end of the hall there is a door that's being guarded by two galra soldiers in shabby, ill-fitting armor. Kosmo takes off down the hall, leading the two galra away. Keith quickly approaches the door and unlocks it to go inside.

Inside Shiro is slumped on the floor with his arm chained to the wall above his head, his eyes are unfocused as he picks his head up to look in Keith’s general direction. “Keith? You shouldn’t be here, it’s a trap. They knew you would come,” says Shiro. 

“I told you once that I would save you as many times as it takes. I meant it,” says Keith as he uses the hilt of his blade to break the chain that is keeping Shiro’s wrist chained to the wall.

Shiro is burning up, Keith suspects some kind of infection, and now that he is close he can see that the bone from Shiro’s broken leg is poking through the skin. He needs medical attention, and soon.

There's no way Shiro is going to be able to walk out of the cell in this condition. Keith bends down and carefully picks him up, trying not to jostle Shiro’s broken leg any more than he has to, and makes his way out of the cell, hoping to spot Kosmo to teleport out quickly. Kosmo is nowhere in sight, but Keith can hear him at the other end of the hall. He weighs his options, if they stay put the guards could return at any time and they would be no closer to escape, but walking towards the sound would mean potentially alerting the other inhabitants of the space station of their location. 

Shiro is burning up and struggling to maintain consciousness, he can’t afford to wait and hope that Kosmo will come back, so Keith starts walking in Kosmo’s direction, hoping not to run into anyone on the way. It isn’t a great plan, but it's the only one he has.

As Keith and Shiro reach the end of the hall they spot Kosmo in the hangar of the space station fending off the galra soldiers from earlier. Keith gently puts Shiro down and rushes in to help. Between Keith and his wolf, one of them goes down quickly but the other gets in a lucky hit, knocking Keith to the ground hard with a crack.

As Keith struggles to get up he sees a group of galra soldiers rush into the hangar and surround him. Trugg is next to Shiro, holding his head up to face Keith with one hand, and holding a gun to his head with the other. “Give yourself up and I’ll let him go, keep fighting and I’ll kill him,” she says.

Shiro gives Keith a nearly imperceptible nod and Keith glances around the hangar. Through a window he can see the castle ship approaching, and out of the corner of his eye Shiro’s floating hand is hovering over a button that will open the airlock doors. 

“I yield, just let him go,” says Keith. Trugg drops Shiro back to the ground and begins approaching as Keith nods at Shiro.

Shiro slams his hand down on the button to open the airlock and Keith barely gets his face mask pulled up before being sucked into space with all of the others. As Trugg is being sucked out of the ship, she pulls the trigger on her weapon, hitting Keith in the shoulder. 

Kosmo quickly teleports Keith and Shiro into the room in the castle ship containing the healing pods, then takes off down the hall toward the bridge of the ship to retrieve Lance and Allura. 

Keith and Shiro collapse into a heap trying to catch their breath as Keith holds pressure on his shoulder.

Shiro rolls toward Keith and kisses the top of his head "before they come to help us into the pods, I need to say something,"

"What is it, Shiro?"

"I had a lot of time to think while I was imprisoned, and I know what I want to do now," 

Keith peels his hand off of his shoulder to assess the damage, the shot doesn't seem to have hit anything vital, but blood is still oozing from the wound. Shiro's eyes are losing focus again as he reaches out to put his arm around Keith.

"What is it? We'll do anything you want," says Keith. 

Shiro blinks hard a couple times, struggling to stay awake and lucid long enough to say what he wants to say. "We should have a baby. We don't have to put it off anymore, we should live together all the time and have a baby," he says before his eyes flutter closed and he loses consciousness again.

Lance and Allura come running into the room and stop short of where Keith is now sitting up, still clutching his shoulder as he leans over Shiro. 

Allura helps Keith to his feet and walks him over to the healing pods. "You're bleeding, what happened?" she asks, looking concerned.

"I was shot, but I'll be okay, I need to talk to Shiro as soon as he wakes up, he still doesn't know," says Keith, sending a pained look over his shoulder to where Lance has started preparing Shiro to go into the healing pod.

"You should be out of the healing pod well before he is, please let us take care of you. If Shiro comes out of the pod in a few days and you're still hanging around injured he's going to be very upset," says Allura, helping Keith out of his blade suit and into something softer and not caked in blood and sweat. 

She has a point. If it was just Keith, he would probably resist going into the healing pod anyway, at least until he was one hundred percent sure that Shiro would be okay, but it isn't just him anymore. Keith's hand drifts to his stomach and he takes a moment to feel his baby's reassuring presence before stepping into the healing pod and giving Allura a nod.

As the Keith drifts off to sleep inside the healing pod, he can see Lance and Allura across the room preparing Shiro to go into the other pod. He just hopes he wasn't too late.

_______________

When the healing pod door opens again, Allura is standing there to catch him and help him over to the couch. 

His legs feel like jelly as he stumbles over to the couch and sits down. He puts a hand over his stomach where he could swear he has gotten larger just during his time in the healing pod. "How long was I in there?" he asks.

"About five days," says Allura. "You were more injured than I thought, in addition to the gunshot wound, you had several broken ribs, and the gunshot was straight through a major blood vessel,"

Keith cringes, "Well I still beat Shiro out at least, how is he?"

"You found him just in time, although I still think you should have waited for backup," she says, giving him a pointed look.

"You know I couldn't just leave him there to keep suffering once I found him," says Keith.

Allura's gaze softens, "I know that. You saved his life. If he hadn't gotten help when he did he would've only had a couple days left. His organs were starting to shut down from the infection,"

A chill runs through Keith at knowing just how close he came to losing Shiro for good. "How much longer will he be in there?" he asks, gesturing to Shiro who is sleeping peacefully in the healing pod across the room.

"About two more days. We knew you wouldn't want to leave his side, so we brought most of your things in here," says Allura, pointing to Keith's bag which is sitting on top of a pillow and blanket on the other side of the couch.

"Thanks, what happened with Trugg and her militia?" asks Keith. 

"The Blade of Marmora was able to collect the survivors, they should be on Diabazaal awaiting trial. Your mom stopped by to check on you while you were in the healing pod, so you should probably call her," 

Keith is distracted by a notification coming from his phone on top of his bag. He picks it up and sees that it's the reminder he set to take his weekly picture so Shiro wouldn't have to miss out on anything. He smiles, seeing Shiro safe and sound across the room, and passes his phone over to Allura to take the picture while he stands up and matches the pose from the previous weeks. 

Fourteen weeks marks the official beginning of his second trimester and the stretchy bodysuit he is still wearing from his time in the healing pod does nothing to disguise his growing baby bump. He will need to change into something less form fitting after his shower, he would rather tell Shiro about the baby before he sees him and figures it out on his own.

Lance walks in carrying a plate of food and a water pouch. "Oh good, I hoped you would be out, Hunk sent me to bring you your lunch," he says, handing over the plate.

"Thanks, what planet are we on, anyway?" asks Keith, biting into his sandwich. 

"Earth. We missed the last couple weeks of our vacation, so we're making up for it now. We extended the trip. I think we could all use a break after that whole kidnapping thing," says Lance.

"I probably need to get back to Diabazaal as soon as Shiro wakes up, I've already been away from work longer than I planned," says Keith.

Allura laughs, "Krolia said you aren't going back out in the field until her grandchild no longer has to go with you,"

"We're both fine," Keith grumbles.

"You are now, but that could've turned out way worse. You scared the shit out of us rushing in there alone like that. We were just a few minutes out and the blades were right behind us," says Lance.

Keith can't really argue, things were looking pretty bleak there for a few minutes before help arrived. If he'd waited for backup he might've been able to avoid getting shot and sucked into space.

Looking at Shiro, safe and sleeping in his healing pod, Keith can't honestly say he would do anything different. 

Keith stays in the room with Shiro's healing pod for the next two days, leaving only to shower and use the bathroom. The other paladins are in and out splitting time between spending time with Keith in the castle ship and enjoying their extended vacation in the beach house. When it comes time for Shiro's healing pod to open, they all leave to give Keith and Shiro some privacy. 

A few minutes before the pod is set to open, Keith throws a hooded sweatshirt over the t-shirt and pajama pants he is wearing so he can disguise his bump long enough to break the news. None of his regular pants will button anymore, so he is going to have to go shopping for larger clothes before he can expect to look presentable again, but he doubts Shiro will mind.

He walks up to the glass door of the pod as it begins to open, prepared to catch Shiro as he stumbles out. 

Shiro blearily opens his eyes and takes a step forward into Keith's arms and Keith guides him over to the couch to sit down. 

"I knew you would come for me, I never gave up hope," says Shiro, leaning into Keith's space.

"I need you, Shiro, and I'm not the only one," says Keith.

A look of realization and panic dawns on Shiro's face and he asks "My crew, are they okay?"

"Your crew is fine, there were some minor injuries, but everyone's okay now," Keith says, giving Shiro a soft look. "I wasn't talking about your crew, Shiro," he says, looking deep into Shiro's eyes and pulling Shiro's hand to rest on his newly rounded stomach.

Shiro gasps "A...are you? How long?" he asks.

"Fourteen weeks, or a little over three months," says Keith, pulling his sweatshirt over his head to give Shiro a better look.

Shiro reverently brushes his hand over Keith's stomach before he jolts at the memory of what happened just before he went into the pod. "Wait, you carried me, then you got shot and sucked into space," he says, voice dripping with concern.

"It was worth the risk to get you back. You mean everything to me, and it was a really close call. Allura said your organs were already starting to fail when they got you into the healing pod," says Keith with a shudder, putting his hand over Shiro's resting on his bump.

"For the next few months at least, please try to stay safe, if not for yourself then do it for the baby," says Shiro, eyes pleading as he looks at Keith.

"You have nothing to worry about, I'm on leave with the blade until after the baby is born. Mom had some choice words to say about bringing her grandchild along on a dangerous mission without waiting for backup," says Keith, rolling his eyes.

"Your mom is a smart woman," says Shiro with a grin.

"We picked up a signal from the station where you were being held, when I saw the condition you were in…" Keith shudders, "I was the closest and I couldn't just leave you there while I waited on the others," he says.

"I felt you holding my hand in the time between when you found my arm and when you found the rest of me. It helped keep me sane towards the end," says Shiro. 

"I'm sorry I didn't get to you sooner. When I found that the ship that took you was abandoned, I thought I lost my only lead. Then I found your arm locked up in a drawer, and they didn't delete the security footage, so I called everyone in to sweep the area," says Keith.

"You don't have anything to be sorry about. They abandoned the ship because they saw pictures of it on the news and worried it might attract unwanted attention. I'm just sorry I couldn't be with you through this from the beginning," says Shiro, still gently rubbing his hand over the bump.

"It was so hard not calling to tell you as soon as I found out, but I thought you deserved to hear it in person. If I'd known you were going to be captured I would've told you right away," says Keith.

"It's probably for the best I didn't know, my escape attempts almost got me killed as it is," says Shiro. 

"I'll make it up to you now. I documented the first few weeks so you wouldn't have to miss out, and I'll tell you the story about how I found out," says Keith, pulling out his phone to show Shiro the weekly pictures.

"I would like that," says Shiro with a smile, "but first, how much longer do we have until the others come back?" he asks, leaning in close to pull Keith into his lap and pulling at the waistband of his pants.

Keith leans in and captures Shiro's mouth in a kiss, reaching for the zipper of Shiro's bodysuit. "As long as we need, they know not to come in until I say it's time," says Keith. 

Despite the difficult beginning, Keith and Shiro know that as long as they have each other, everything is going to turn out okay. Their baby is healthy, safe, and loved. They couldn't be happier to go on the next big journey together.

**Author's Note:**

> Come yell in my general direction on Twitter! https://twitter.com/Peridactyl5xg


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